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Testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government
Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, May 8, 2008:
Human Capital:
Transforming Federal Recruiting and Hiring Efforts:
Statement of Robert N. Goldenkoff Director, Strategic Issues:
GAO-08-762T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-08-762T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the
District of Columbia, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, U.S. Senate.
Why GAO Did This Study:
To address the challenges that the nation faces, it will be important
for federal agencies to change their cultures and create the
institutional capacity to become high-performing organizations. This
includes recruiting and retaining a federal workforce able to create,
sustain, and thrive in organizations that are flatter, results-
oriented, and externally focused.
In 2001, GAO identified strategic human capital management as a
governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies lacked a
strategic approach to human capital management that integrated human
capital efforts with their missions and program goals. Although
progress has been made since that time, strategic human capital
management still remains a high-risk area.
This testimony, based on a large body of completed work issued from
January 2001 through April 2008, focuses on (1) challenges that federal
agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented employees, (2)
progress in addressing these challenges, and (3) additional actions
that are needed to strengthen recruiting and hiring efforts. In its
prior reports, GAO has made a range of recommendations to the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM)—the government’s personnel agency—and to
agencies in such areas as hiring, workforce planning, and diversity
management; a number of these recommendations have since been
implemented. GAO is making no new recommendations at this time.
What GAO Found:
Numerous studies over the years have identified a range of problems and
challenges with recruitment and hiring in the federal government. Some
of these problems and challenges include passive recruitment
strategies, unclear job vacancy announcements, and manual processes
that are time consuming and paperwork intensive. In recent years,
Congress, OPM, and agencies have made important strides in improving
federal recruitment and hiring. For example, Congress has provided
agencies with hiring flexibilities that could help to streamline the
hiring process. OPM has sponsored job fairs and developed automated
tools. Individual agencies have developed targeted recruitment
strategies to identify and help build a talented workforce.
Building on the progress that has been made, additional efforts are
needed in the following areas.
Human capital planning: Federal agencies will have to bolster their
efforts in strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are
prepared to meet their current and emerging hiring needs. Agencies must
determine the critical skills and competencies necessary to achieve
programmatic goals and develop strategies that are tailored to address
any identified gaps.
Diversity management: Developing and maintaining workforces that
reflect all segments of society and our nation’s diversity is another
significant aspect of agencies’ recruitment challenges. Recruitment is
a key first step toward establishing a diverse workforce. Agencies must
consider active recruitment strategies, such as building formal
relationships with targeted schools and colleges, and partnering with
multicultural professional organizations.
Use of existing flexibilities: Agencies need to reexamine the
flexibilities provided to them under current authorities, including
monetary recruitment and retention incentives, special hiring
authorities, and work-life programs. Agencies can then identify those
existing flexibilities that could be used more extensively or more
effectively to meet their workforce needs.
OPM leadership: OPM has taken significant steps in fostering and
guiding improvements in recruiting and hiring in the executive branch.
For example, OPM, working with and through the Chief Human Capital
Officers Council, has moved forward in compiling information on
effective and innovative practices and sharing this information with
agencies. Still, OPM must continue to work to ensure that agencies take
action on this information. Also, OPM needs to make certain that it has
the internal capacity to guide agencies’ readiness to implement change
and achieve desired outcomes.
OPM and agencies should be held accountable for the ongoing monitoring
and refinement of human capital approaches to recruit and hire a
capable and committed federal workforce. With continued commitment and
strong leadership, the federal government can indeed be an employer of
choice.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-762T]. For more
information, contact Robert Goldenkoff at (202) 512-6806 or
goldenkoffr@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss recruiting
and hiring of the next generation of federal employees. Today's hearing
coincides with Public Service Recognition Week, which honors the men
and women who serve America as federal, state, and local government
employees. We commend the subcommittee for this opportunity to
highlight the progress that the federal government has made in
improving its recruitment and hiring practices over the past few years
as well as draw attention to the continued challenges and opportunities
facing federal agencies in acquiring capable and committed employees.
The importance of a top-notch federal workforce cannot be overstated.
The nation is facing new and more complex challenges in the 21st
century as various forces are reshaping the United States and its place
in the world. These forces include a large and growing long-term fiscal
imbalance, evolving national and homeland security threats, increasing
global interdependence, and a changing economy. Further, as we have
pointed out in our High-Risk Series and other reports for Congress,
some federal agencies continue to face persistent performance and
accountability problems at a time when taxpayers have come to expect--
and need--higher levels of performance and greater responsiveness by
public officials and programs.
To address these challenges, it will be important for federal agencies
to change their cultures and create the institutional capacity to
become high-performing organizations. This includes recruiting and
retaining employees able to create, sustain, and thrive in
organizations that are flatter, results-oriented, and externally
focused and that collaborate with other governmental entities as well
as with the private and nonprofit sectors to achieve desired outcomes.
As you are aware, in 2001, we identified federal human capital
management as a governmentwide high-risk area because federal agencies
lacked a strategic approach to human capital management that integrated
human capital efforts with their missions and program goals.[Footnote
1] Although progress has been made since that time, strategic human
capital management still remains on our high-risk list.[Footnote 2] As
we have previously reported in our work on human capital issues,
federal agencies do not consistently have the modern human capital
programs and policies needed to ensure that they have the right people
in the right jobs at the right time to meet the challenges they
face.[Footnote 3]
Exacerbating this problem, governmentwide, about one-third of federal
employees on board at the end of fiscal year 2007 will become eligible
to retire by 2012. Proportions of workers eligible to retire are
projected to be especially high in certain occupations--some of them
mission critical--as well as in key leadership positions. Indeed, as we
recently reported, about 51 percent of customs and border protection
agents, 58 percent of air traffic controllers, 85 percent of
administrative law judges, and 64 percent of career executives may be
eligible to retire by 2012.[Footnote 4]
That said, the way forward is not gloomy. In many ways, the federal
government is well positioned to acquire, develop, and retain the
people it needs to carry out its diverse roles and responsibilities.
Importantly, federal employment offers rewards, such as interesting
work and opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others, as
well as a variety of tangible benefits and work-life flexibilities that
make an organization an employer of choice.[Footnote 5] Moreover, OPM
and agencies have made noteworthy progress in addressing the various
human capital challenges they face, often in response to our findings
and recommendations. For example:
* OPM identified additional human capital flexibilities and worked to
build consensus for legislative change;
* the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to adopt a
strategic approach to acquisition workforce planning; and:
* the Department of Housing and Urban Development prepared a strategic
workforce plan to be better prepared to recruit and hire the people it
needs to fulfill its mission.
As requested, my testimony today will focus on (1) challenges that
federal agencies have faced in recruiting and hiring talented
employees, (2) the progress that has been made to date in addressing
these challenges, and (3) additional actions that are needed moving
forward to strengthen the government's recruiting and hiring efforts.
My remarks today will underscore the following: Improving the federal
recruiting and hiring process to attract the next generation of federal
employees is a shared responsibility between the federal government's
central personnel agency--the Office of Personnel Management (OPM),
individual agencies, and Congress. With sustained and committed
leadership, innovation, and planning, the federal government can brand
itself as an employer of choice and successfully compete in the labor
market for its fair share of the nation's best and brightest
individuals.
This testimony is based on a large body of our completed work issued
from January 2001 through April 2008. Our previous work included
reviews of OPM and agency documents related to federal hiring, studies
on recruiting and hiring that were completed by other organizations in
recent years, as well as data from OPM's central database of
governmentwide personnel information. We also interviewed various
officials from OPM, the interagency Chief Human Capital Officers
Council, and selected federal agencies. We performed our performance
audits in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit
to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Federal Recruiting and Hiring Has Been a Long-standing Challenge:
For years it has been widely recognized that the federal hiring process
all too often does not meet the needs of (1) agencies in achieving
their missions; (2) managers in filling positions with the right
talent; and (3) applicants for a timely, efficient, transparent, and
merit-based process. In short, the federal hiring process is often an
impediment to the very customers it is designed to serve in that it
makes it difficult for agencies and managers to obtain the right people
with the right skills, and applicants can be dissuaded from public
service because of the complex and lengthy procedures.
Numerous studies over the past decade by OPM, the Merit Systems
Protection Board (MSPB), the National Academy of Public Administration,
the Partnership for Public Service, the National Commission on the
Public Service, and GAO have identified a range of problems and
challenges with recruitment and hiring in the federal government,
including the following:[Footnote 6]
* Passive recruitment strategies.
* Poor and insufficient workforce planning.
* Unclear job vacancy announcements.
* Time-consuming and paperwork-intensive manual processes.
* Imprecise candidate assessment tools.
* Ineffective use of existing hiring flexibilities.
These problems put the federal government at a serious competitive
disadvantage in acquiring talent. For example, passive recruitment
strategies, such as infrequent or no outreach to college campuses, miss
opportunities to expose potential employees to information about
federal jobs. Unclear and unfriendly vacancy announcements can cause
confusion for applicants, delay hiring, and serve as poor recruiting
tools. Weak candidate assessment tools can inadequately predict future
job performance and result in the hiring of individuals who do not
fully possess the appropriate skills for the job. As evidence of these
and other problems, MSPB's most recently published Merit Principles
Survey results found that only 5 percent of federal managers and
supervisors said that they faced no significant barriers to hiring
employees for their agencies.[Footnote 7]
Congress, OPM, and Agencies Have Taken Significant Steps to Help
Improve Recruiting and Hiring:
In recent years, Congress, OPM, and agencies have taken a series of
important actions to improve recruiting and hiring in the federal
sector. For example, Congress has provided agencies with hiring
flexibilities that could help agencies streamline their hiring
processes and give agency managers more latitude in selecting among
qualified job candidates. Congress has also provided several agencies
with exemptions from the pay and classification restrictions of the
General Schedule. Other examples of congressional action related to
recruitment and hiring follow.
* Dual compensation waivers to rehire federal retirees. OPM may grant
waivers allowing agencies to fill positions with rehired federal
annuitants without offsetting the salaries by the amount of the
annuities.[Footnote 8] Agencies can request waivers on a case-by-case
basis for positions that are extremely difficult to fill or for
emergencies or other unusual circumstances. Agencies can also request
from OPM a delegation of authority to grant waivers for emergencies or
other unusual circumstances.
* Special authority to hire for positions in contracting. Agencies can
rehire federal annuitants to fill positions in contracting without
being required to offset the salaries. Agencies are required only to
notify and submit their hiring plans to OPM.[Footnote 9]
* Enhanced annual leave computation. Agencies may credit relevant
private sector experience when computing annual leave amounts.[Footnote
10]
As the federal government's central personnel management agency, OPM
has a key role in helping agencies acquire, develop, retain, and manage
their human capital. In the areas of recruiting and hiring, OPM has,
for example, done the following.
* Sponsored job fairs across the country and produced television
commercials to make the public more aware of the work that federal
employees do.
* Developed a 45-day hiring model to help agencies identify the steps
in their processes that tend to bog them down, and created a detailed
checklist to assist agencies in undertaking a full-scale makeover of
their hiring process from beginning to end.
* Developed a Hiring Tool Kit on its Web site that is to aid agencies
in improving and refining their hiring processes and that includes a
tool to assist agency officials in determining the appropriate hiring
flexibilities to use given their specific situations.
* Updated and expanded its report Human Resources Flexibilities and
Authorities in the Federal Government, which serves as a handbook for
agencies in identifying current flexibilities and authorities and how
they can be used to address human capital challenges.
* Established standardized vacancy announcement templates for common
occupations, such as secretarial, accounting, and accounting technician
positions, into which agencies can insert summary information
concerning their specific jobs prior to posting for public
announcement.
Individual federal agencies have also taken actions to meet their
specific recruitment and hiring needs. For example:
* The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has used a
combination of techniques to recruit workers with critical skills,
including targeted recruitment activities, educational outreach
programs, improved compensation and benefits packages, professional
development programs, and streamlined hiring authorities.[Footnote 11]
Many of NASA's external hires have been for entry-level positions
through the Cooperative Education Program, which provides NASA centers
with the opportunity to develop and train future employees and assess
the abilities of potential employees before making them permanent job
offers.
* The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has endeavored to align its
human capital planning framework with its strategic goals and has
identified the activities needed to achieve a diverse, skilled
workforce and an infrastructure that supports the agency's mission and
goals.[Footnote 12] NRC has used various flexibilities in recruiting
and hiring new employees, and it has tracked the frequency and cost
associated with the use of some flexibilities. While there was room for
further improvement, NRC has been effective in recruiting, developing,
and retaining a critically skilled workforce.
Additional Actions Are Needed to Strengthen Recruiting and Hiring:
While these actions are all steps in the right direction, our past work
has found that additional efforts are needed in the areas of strategic
human capital planning, diversity management, and the use of existing
flexibilities. In addressing these areas, agency managers need to be
held accountable for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of
their recruiting efforts and hiring processes. In addition, OPM,
working with and through the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, must
use its leadership position to vigorously and convincingly encourage
continuous improvement in agencies and provide appropriate assistance
to support agencies' recruitment and hiring efforts. In carrying out
its important role, OPM will need to ensure that it has the internal
capacity to assist and guide agencies' readiness to implement needed
improvements. I will discuss each one of these areas in turn.
Human Capital Planning:
First and foremost, federal agencies will have to bolster their efforts
in strategic human capital planning to ensure that they are prepared to
meet their current and emerging hiring needs. To build effective
recruiting and hiring programs, agencies must determine the critical
skills and competencies necessary to achieve programmatic goals and
develop strategies that are tailored to address any identified gaps.
For example, an agency's strategic human capital plan should address
the demographic trends that the agency faces with its workforce,
especially pending retirements. We have found that leading
organizations go beyond a succession planning approach that focuses on
simply replacing individuals; instead, agencies should consider their
future mission requirements and the knowledge, skills, and abilities
needed to meet those requirements.[Footnote 13]
Recruiting and hiring for the acquisition workforce is a prime example
of the government's strategic human capital planning challenges.
Acquisition of products and services from contractors consumes about a
quarter of discretionary spending governmentwide and is a key function
in many federal agencies. We have reported that many acquisition
professionals need to acquire a new set of skills focusing on business
management because of a more sophisticated business
environment.[Footnote 14] At a GAO-sponsored forum in July 2006,
acquisition experts reported that agency leaders had not recognized or
elevated the importance of the acquisition profession within their
organizations, and a strategic approach had not been taken across
government or within agencies to focus on workforce challenges, such as
creating a positive image essential to successfully recruiting and
retaining a new generation of talented acquisition
professionals.[Footnote 15]
Diversity Management:
Developing and maintaining workforces that reflect all segments of
society and our nation's diversity is another significant aspect of
agencies' recruitment challenges. As we have previously reported,
recruitment is a key first step toward establishing a diverse
workforce.[Footnote 16] To ensure that they are reaching out to diverse
pools of talent, agencies must consider active recruitment strategies,
such as the following:
* Widening the selection of schools from which they recruit to include,
for example, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-
serving institutions, women's colleges, and schools with international
programs.
* Building formal relationships with targeted schools and colleges to
ensure the cultivation of talent for future applicant pools.
* Partnering with multicultural professional organizations and speaking
at their conferences to communicate their commitment to diversity to
external audiences and strengthen and maintain relationships.
For these types of recruitment strategies, agencies can calculate the
cost of recruiting channels and cross-reference those costs with the
volume and quality of candidates yielded in order to reallocate funds
to the most effective recruiting channels.
Several agencies have taken steps toward developing and implementing
active recruitment strategies that take into account a diverse pool of
job candidates. For example:
* NASA developed a strategy for recruiting Hispanics that focuses on
increasing educational attainment, beginning in kindergarten and
continuing into college and graduate school, with the goal of
attracting students into the NASA workforce and aerospace community.
NASA said it must compete with the private sector for the pool of
Hispanics qualified for aerospace engineering positions, which is often
attracted by more-lucrative employment opportunities in the private
sector in more preferable locations.[Footnote 17] NASA centers
sponsored, and its employees participated in, mentoring, tutoring, and
other programs to encourage Hispanic and other students to pursue
careers in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics.
* An official with the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) said that when NIST hosted recruitment or other programs, it
made use of relationships the agency had with colleges, universities,
and other groups to inform students about internship or employment
opportunities.[Footnote 18] One group that helped to arrange such
recruitment efforts was the National Organization of Black Chemists and
Black Chemical Engineers. The NIST official said that NIST had been
active in the professional organization's leadership for years and that
NIST employees had served on its executive board. Another NIST official
said that the professional organization had helped with NIST's efforts
to recruit summer interns.
* The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed internship
opportunities designed to recruit a diverse group of future candidates
for the agency.[Footnote 19] Its Minority-Serving Institutions
Internship Program was designed to provide professional knowledge and
experience at FAA or firms in the private sector for minority students
and students with disabilities who are enrolled in a college or
university, major in relevant fields and related disciplines, and have
a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average. Students in the internship
program could earn academic credit for their participation during the
fall or spring semesters or over the summer.
Use of Existing Flexibilities:
Additionally, the appropriate use of human capital flexibilities is
crucial to making further improvements in agencies' efforts to recruit,
hire, and manage their workforces. Federal agencies often have varied
statutory authorities related to workforce management.[Footnote 20]
These authorities provide agencies with flexibility in helping them
manage their human capital strategically to achieve results. In
previous reports and testimonies, we have emphasized that in addressing
their human capital challenges, federal agencies should first identify
and use the flexibilities already available under existing laws and
regulations and then seek additional flexibilities only when necessary
and based on sound business cases. Our work has found that the
insufficient and ineffective use of these existing flexibilities can
significantly hinder the ability of federal agencies to recruit, hire,
retain, and manage their human capital.[Footnote 21]
The ineffective use of available hiring flexibilities represents a lost
opportunity for agencies to effectively manage human capital. In 2002,
Congress provided agencies with two new hiring flexibilities.[Footnote
22] One of these hiring flexibilities, known as category rating,
permits an agency to select best-qualified job candidates for a
position rather than being limited to the three top-ranked job
candidates. The other hiring flexibility, often referred to as direct
hire, allows an agency to appoint people to positions without adherence
to certain competitive examination requirements when there is a severe
shortage of qualified candidates or a critical hiring need. However, we
have found that agencies were making limited use of these available
flexibilities.[Footnote 23] Various agency officials from across the
federal government often had previously cited both of these hiring
flexibilities as needed tools to help in improving the federal hiring
process.
Agencies need to reexamine the flexibilities provided to them under
current authorities and identify those that could be used more
extensively or more effectively to meet their workforce needs. Our
prior work has identified several human capital flexibilities that
agency officials and union representatives frequently cited as most
effective for managing their workforces.[Footnote 24] These
flexibilities encompass broad areas of personnel-related actions that
could be especially beneficial for agencies' recruiting and hiring
efforts. They include monetary recruitment and retention incentives;
special hiring authorities, such as student employment programs; and
work-life programs, such as alternative work schedules, child care
assistance, and transit subsidies.
OPM Leadership:
As part of its key leadership role, OPM has taken significant steps in
fostering and guiding improvements in recruiting and hiring in the
executive branch. Still, OPM must continue to assist--and as
appropriate, require--the building of the infrastructures within
agencies needed to successfully implement and sustain human capital
reforms to strengthen recruitment and hiring. OPM can do this in part
by encouraging continuous improvement and providing appropriate
assistance to support agencies' recruitment and hiring efforts.
Innovative and best practices of model agencies need to be made
available to other agencies in order to facilitate the transformation
of agency hiring practices from compliance based to agency mission
based. OPM, working with and through the Chief Human Capital Officers
Council, has made progress in compiling information on effective and
innovative practices and distributing this information to help agencies
in determining when, where, and how the various flexibilities are being
used and should be used. OPM must continue to work to ensure that
agencies take action on this information.
Moreover, in leading governmentwide human capital reform, OPM has faced
challenges in its internal capacity to assist and guide agencies'
readiness to implement change. In October 2007, we issued a report on
the extent to which OPM has (1) addressed key internal human capital
management issues identified through employee survey responses and (2)
put in place strategies to ensure that it has the mission-critical
talent it needs to meet current and future strategic goals.[Footnote
25] We found that OPM has taken positive actions to address specific
concerns raised by its employees and managers in the employee surveys.
We also found that OPM has strategies in place, such as workforce and
succession management plans, that are aligned with selected leading
practices relevant to the agency's capacity to fulfill its strategic
goals. However, OPM lacks a well-documented agencywide evaluation
process of some of its workforce planning efforts. In a relatively
short time, there will also be a presidential transition, and well-
documented processes can help to ensure a seamless transition that
builds on the current momentum.
Equally important is OPM's leadership in federal workforce diversity
and oversight of merit system principles. In our review of how OPM and
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) carry out their
mutually shared responsibilities for helping to ensure a fair,
inclusive, and nondiscriminatory federal workplace, we found limited
coordination between the two agencies in policy and oversight
matters.[Footnote 26] The lack of a strategic partnership between the
two agencies and an insufficient understanding of their mutual roles,
authority, and responsibilities can result in a lost opportunity to
realize consistency, efficiency, and public value in federal equal
employment opportunity and workplace diversity human capital management
practices. We recommended that OPM and EEOC regularly coordinate in
carrying out their responsibilities under the equal employment
opportunity policy framework and seek opportunities for streamlining
like reporting requirements. Both agencies acknowledged that their
collaborative efforts could be strengthened but took exception to the
recommendation to streamline requirements. We continue to believe in
the value of more collaboration.
Finally, OPM and agency leaders need to be held accountable and should
hold others accountable for the ongoing monitoring and refinement of
human capital approaches to recruit and hire a capable and committed
federal workforce. Leadership is critical for agencies to overcome
their natural resistance to change, to marshal the resources needed in
many cases to improve management, to build and maintain
organizationwide commitment to improving their ways of doing business,
and to create the conditions for effectively improving human capital
approaches. Some agency officials have told us that OPM rules and
regulations are rigid, yet agency officials are also often hesitant to
implement new approaches without specific guidance. It will be
important for agencies and OPM to define their appropriate roles and
day-to-day working relationships as they collaborate on developing and
implementing innovative and more effective recruitment efforts and
hiring processes.
In conclusion, OPM and agencies have made progress in addressing the
impediments to effective recruitment and hiring since we first
designated strategic human capital management as a high-risk area in
2001. Still, as I have discussed today, more can be done. Faced with a
workforce that is becoming more retirement eligible and finding gaps in
talent because of changes in the knowledge, skills, and competencies in
occupations needed to meet their missions, agencies must strengthen
their recruiting and hiring efforts. Moreover, human capital expertise
within the agencies must be up to the challenge for this transformation
to be successful and enduring. With an ongoing commitment to continuous
improvement and strong leadership in Congress, OPM, and the agencies,
the federal government can indeed be an employer of choice.
Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this completes my
prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you
may have at this time.
Contacts and Acknowledgments:
For further information regarding this statement, please contact Robert
N. Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues, at (202) 512-6806 or
goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions to this
testimony include K. Scott Derrick, Assistant Director; Steven Berke;
Janice Latimer; Sabrina Streagle; and Jessica Thomsen.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-01-263 (Washington, D.C.:
January 2001).
[2] GAO, High-Risk Series: An Update, GAO-07-310 (Washington, D.C.:
January 2007).
[3] GAO, Human Capital: Federal Workforce Challenges in the 21st
Century, GAO-07-556T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 6, 2007).
[4] GAO, Older Workers: Federal Agencies Face Challenges, but Have
Opportunities to Hire and Retain Experienced Employees, GAO-08-630T
(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 30, 2008).
[5] As reported in the Merit Systems Protection Board's Merit
Principles Survey 2005, which obtained federal employees' views on how
well the workforce is being managed.
[6] See, for example, GAO, Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve
Executive Agencies' Hiring Processes, GAO-03-450 (Washington, D.C.: May
30, 2003); Human Capital: Additional Collaboration Between OPM and
Agencies Is Key to Improved Federal Hiring, GAO-04-797 (Washington,
D.C.: June 7, 2004); and Human Capital: Status of Efforts to Improve
Federal Hiring, GAO-04-796T (Washington, D.C.: June 7, 2004). Also, see
Merit Systems Protection Board, Reforming Federal Hiring: Beyond Faster
and Cheaper (Washington, D.C.: September 2006).
[7] Merit Systems Protection Board, Accomplishing Our Mission: Results
of the Merit Principles Survey 2005 (Washington, D.C.: February 2007).
[8] See 5 U.S.C. § 8344 and § 8468, 5 C.F.R. part 553.
[9] This authority expires December 31, 2011.
[10] See 5 U.S.C. § 6303(e) and 5 C.F.R. 630.205.
[11] GAO, NASA: Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management,
but Future Program Challenges Remain, GAO-07-1004 (Washington, D.C.:
Aug. 8, 2007).
[12] GAO, Human Capital: Retirements and Anticipated New Reactor
Applications Will Challenge NRC's Workforce, GAO-07-105 (Washington,
D.C.: Jan. 17, 2007).
[13] GAO, Human Capital: Succession Planning and Management Is Critical
Driver of Organizational Transformation, GAO-04-127T (Washington, D.C.:
Oct. 1, 2003).
[14] GAO, Acquisition Workforce: Status of Agency Efforts to Address
Future Needs, GAO-03-55 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003).
[15] GAO, Highlights of a GAO Forum: Federal Acquisition Challenges and
Opportunities in the 21st Century, GAO-07-45SP (Washington, D.C.: Oct.
6, 2006).
[16] GAO, Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and
Agency Examples, GAO-05-90 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 14, 2005).
[17] GAO, The Federal Workforce: Additional Insights Could Enhance
Agency Efforts Related to Hispanic Representation, GAO-06-832
(Washington, D.C.: Aug. 17, 2006).
[18] GAO-05-90.
[19] GAO-05-90.
[20] GAO, Human Capital: Selected Agencies' Statutory Authorities Could
Offer Options in Developing a Framework for Governmentwide Reform, GAO-
05-398R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 21, 2005).
[21] GAO, Human Capital: Effective Use of Flexibilities Can Assist
Agencies in Managing Their Workforces, GAO-03-2 (Washington, D.C.: Dec.
6, 2002).
[22] These hiring flexibilities are contained in the Chief Human
Capital Officers Act of 2002, Title XIII of the Homeland Security Act
of 2002. Pub. L. No. 107-296 (Nov. 25, 2002).
[23] GAO, Human Capital: Increasing Agencies' Use of New Hiring
Flexibilities, GAO-04-959T (Washington, D.C.: July 13, 2004).
[24] GAO-03-2.
[25] GAO, Office of Personnel Management: Opportunities Exist to Build
on Recent Progress in Internal Human Capital Capacity, GAO-08-11
(Washington, D.C.: Oct. 31, 2007).
[26] GAO, Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed
between EEOC and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO, GAO-06-214
(Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2006).
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